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Billerica man indicted on bank-robber charges

By Lisa Redmond, lredmond@lowellsun.com

Updated:
01/28/2013 06:34:17 AM EST

LOWELL -- A 39-year-old Billerica man has been indicted after the bank-robbery suspect forced the "hard lockdown'' of a Lowell elementary school last month, when he was arrested in the school's parking lot.

A Middlesex County grand jury indicted Robert Volis, formerly of 317 Boston Road, on charges of armed robbery and intimidation of a witness in connection with the Dec. 17 robbery of the TD Bank at 350 Westford St. in Lowell.

Prosecutors allege a man walked into the bank, walked up to a teller and demanded money. The man started yelling at the teller, "I have a gun, now give me money."

The teller handed over an unknown amount of cash, Frisardi said. As the man left the bank, he allegedly yelled, "Don't play any games and don't call 911 or I'll be back."

Minutes after the 10:20 a.m. robbery, the C.W. Morey Elementary School, which enrolls 600 children ages 3 to 10, was ordered into hard lockdown.

Lowell School Superintendent Jean Franco said a hard lockdown is when children are told to stay in their classrooms, hide and stay out of view.

Tensions were running high because it had been only three days since the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., in which 20 students and six adults were killed.

Lowell police say they captured the alleged robber in the school's parking lot minutes after the robbery. Although Volis allegedly told a bank teller that he had a gun, prosecutors say when Volis was arrested, he was unarmed.

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